S Kumar The current political system in India has more dynastic rule than any time in the past. Even if we compare with the monarchies of earlier centuries, the rulers had less of a dynastic tendencies because of constant fighting among different regional powers and with invaders. In the past whoever was strong and able …
Serious Men – Not so Serious about Dalit Realities
Neeraj Bunkar The recently released ‘Serious Men’ is an Indian Hindi language comedy drama film directed by Sudhir Mishra. The film is based on a book of the same name by Manu Joseph. This movie revolves around the issue of child genius scams. Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Ayyan Mani) plays a migrant Tamil Dalit man who lives …
Manu Joseph’s Serious Men: A tale of two brahmins
Chanchal Kumar Manu Joseph’s award-winning debut novel has been lauded for breaking away from the norm in its depiction of the dalit male character as an intelligent but cunning person. In the words of the author, Ayyan Mani is an “exceptional” individual who is “a freak, in a way” (Joseph 2010). While historically, dalits …
For the perfect progressive recipe, skip caste, sprinkle Dalit swadanusaar: Gaurav Somwanshi
Gaurav Somwanshi (Round Table India and SAVARI have been hosting a series of online talks by activists and thinkers on issues of importance to the Bahujan. This is the transcript of Gaurav Somwanshi’s talk on June 21st, 2020) Whatever I’m going to talk about today is primarily built upon the articles that I wrote, …
Dealing with old foes: Perpetual Exclusion and Loneliness
Akshit Sangomla My name is Akshit Sangomla. I work as a senior reporter at the Down To Earth magazine in Delhi. I report and write stories on climate change, natural disasters, astronomy, artificial intelligence and other science (and technology) related topics – something that Rohith Vemula would have loved to do but was not allowed …
Presidency University engages with Dr. Ambedkar
Ekalavya Ravidas The historic Hindu College of Calcutta, later named as Presidency College and currently known as Presidency University, has conventionally been an academic space almost exclusively occupied by the upper caste Hindus. The minorities of India, particularly those who are now known as SCs, STs, and OBCs and those who constitute 85% of India’s …
COVID-19 and a more dangerous virus
Salman Farissi COVID-19 hit India in March 2020. Nationwide lockdown prohibited all forms of political or religious congregations. Protesters on the streets of India against CAA, NRC, and NPR retreated as responsible human beings but the deep state and the Indian state (RSS-BJP) seem to have been searching for their prey hiding in the lurches. …
A reply to Mr Katju
Archana Sigh & Arvind Mr Markandey Katju in an article for FirstPost worried about the cause of Scheduled Castes, saying reservations are psychological crutches for them and the caste system is perpetuated by reservations. He wrote this article in reply to the article of Kailash Jeengar, Asst Professor of Law, Campus Law Centre, Delhi …
Can Guns Save the Oppressed in India?
Himanshu Patil Chotelal Diwakar and his son Sunil went out for a walk around noon. Little did they know that the walk would be their last. The Samajwadi Party leader and his son were shot later that day over a dispute related to the construction of a road which allegedly crossed through the fields owned …